Description

A headland on the North Sea coast of Angus, Buddon Ness forms the south-easternmost extremity of Barry Links at the mouth of the Tay estuary to the south of Carnoustie and east of Broughty Ferry.

A naval battle took place off Buddon Ness in the 15th century when King Henry VI of England dispatched a fleet to capture the King of Scotland. The Scots prevailed and the English returned home empty handed. A map of the east coast of Scotland compiled by John Marr in the 1680s shows the promontory of Botannais with a ‘Small Light’ near its tip.

The lower and higher lighthouse towers of Buddon Ness were designed by David and Thomas Stevenson and first lit in 1867. The constantly moving sandbanks meant that the lower light eventually was in the wrong place and it was moved in 1885 around 200ft on a system of rails to its current location.

The lighthouses were abandoned in 1943 and are now part of the Barry Buddon Training Camp used by the Ministry of Defence.